I just joined because I had 2 lucid dreams this week and wanted to learn more

[KevNice]

I can't believe that I stumbled on such a large community and all these resources! its great to know how many other people are exploring these "realms". I would like to introduce myself by telling about two lucid dreams I had this week. I had the first one 2 days ago. After this I spent time investigating the various techniques and I had my 2nd one last night. Lucid dream #1 - DILD I frequently have very strange dreams, so I don't know whether my mind considered this one dream particularly strange, but in any case during the dream I asked myself the classic "Am I Dreaming?" question. Instantly I realized that I had been dreaming - I didnt really need to make many tests as the dreamscape was something out of Alice in Wonderland. Once I became conscious I looked down and noticed this strange animal creature, resembling a little chihuahua but more alien and colorful. It was standing next to a taller being, feathered and colorful, which I didn't get a good look at. Then I became too excited. Once I realized I was dreaming of course I immediately summoned two beautiful blonde women and began having sex with them. It did not last long - I didnt manage to have an orgasm or anything but after a short time I drifted back into normal dreaming unconsciousness; "lost my grip", as it were. The dream ended soon after. Lucid dream #2 - WILD? I think this one could be considered a WILD - it definitely was not a DILD. I don't even remember being in the dream and I was conscious from its beginning. I think I had awaken during the night, and went back to sleep with the intention to become lucid. I was sitting in front of a touch screen device, about the size of an iPad mini. I pressed my index and middle fingers of both hands into the screen, with the intention to pass through it, as if it was a portal or gateway to somewhere else. The screen resisted for a moment but then became viscous and my fingers passed through it, and the whole world opened up into another universe and my awareness rushed through it. Next I found myself floating in an expansive blackness devoid of substance. The only thing I could discern were some patterned white shapes in the distance, like stars or galaxies but spaced really far apart - they were in the shape of a keyhole, or a ball. At this point I tried Carlos Castanenda's "spinning" method to stabilize the dream. I focused on one of the white shapes and turned 360 degrees until I saw the same shape again. This helped stabilize the dream a little. I also looked down at my palms. They were backwards - instead of my palms it was the backs of my hands, and I had an extra finger on each and were super hairy like Bigfoot's hands. This also helped me to stabilize the dream. However I was now in an expansive blackness with nothing really to focus on. I wasn't sure what to do. Perhaps for this reason I was teleported (or maybe I teleported myself?) to another world. The environment here was something like a rural colony - rolling green hills, wooden buildings and people dressed in colonial/pilgrim wear. I was still lucid at the beginning of this part, but after a few moments I lost myself into the dream environment. I went on to have a pretty interesting dream - I was a member of a council of protectors, like King Arthurs Knights of the Round Table, assigned with a mystic responsibility to defend the realm. I ended up being the Hero of a strange medieval quest and story and the Queen herself visited us. I didnt have any control over the dream though. Do you guys have any tips for how to maintain control of lucidity? I had the idea that next time, I would try to breathe slowly like I would in meditation, and spend a few moments focusing on just one object. Perhaps that would stop me from becoming excited/spinning off to another world and losing consciousness. Kev